AEC Leadership Episodes

For over 20 years, the construction industry has discussed prefabrication, modular construction, and industrialized construction as solutions to labor shortages, productivity challenges, and project inefficiencies. Yet, adoption has been slower than many expected. Why? In this episode of Activating Curiosity™, Ryan Ware sits down with Josh Mensinger, President of Integrity Built Texas and Prefab, to reveal a hard truth often overlooked: The biggest barriers to prefabrication aren't tech...

Construction leadership development today requires more than toughness—it demands a human-centered approach to leading change. In this episode of Activating Curiosity™, Ryan Ware sits down with Ed DeAngelis, CEO and Founder of EDA Contractors, to explore how trust, emotional intelligence, and curiosity are reshaping leadership in the construction industry. As the AEC industry faces workforce challenges, change resistance, and increasing complexity, Ed shares why “humanity as a strategy” is...

Climate policy shifts happen fast—but construction leadership in change management is what separates winning AEC firms from reactive ones. In this bonus episode of Activating Curiosity™, Ryan and Laura Steinbrink (CEO, Emerald Built Environments) dive into the mindset shifts and industry transformation needed when policy changes overnight. Discover the strategic framework for navigating regulatory uncertainty and building organizational resilience. This conversation challenges a common assump...

In this episode of Activating Curiosity™ | Leading Change in the Construction Industry, Ryan Ware sits down with Kristin Kautz of JAM Idea Agency to explore how artificial intelligence is reshaping the AEC industry—and why most firms are approaching it the wrong way. This conversation challenges a common assumption: that AI is a tool to implement. Instead, Kristin reframes it as something closer to “air”—an embedded capability that enhances how teams already work, rather than something separa...

Efficiency in construction isn’t just about speed—it’s about how teams work together. In this episode of Activating Curiosity™, Ryan Ware sits down with Brian Skripac of the Design-Build Institute of America (DBIA) to explore how construction leadership and change management in the AEC industry are evolving through collaboration, technology, and design-build delivery. This conversation breaks down a critical shift: moving from fragmented workflows to integrated teams. From early BIM adoption...